(2/8) Ignorance Is No Excuse

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme
Translated into English from Bengali
17 February 2020, part 2

When one commits Nama-aparadha, it often has to do with fault-finding. Somebody can be innocent, but if you attribute some fault to them, or if you go and tell somebody else about that fault, it means you are doing 'dosa-guna kirtan' (দোষগুণ কীর্ত্তন)—you are doing kirtan of somebody's bad qualities or faults. Both are offensive. Somebody has not made any offence, they are free from Vaishnav-ninda, but you talk to somebody else about some fault that you attribute to them.

One time, somebody asked Guru Maharaj, "If one does not know how to read and write (never went to school) and commits offences to the Holy Name without knowing about it, does that excuse them?" Guru Maharaj replied, "No, it does not." You must know what the offences are, then you will be committing them less. It is the same as doing something wrong knowingly and unknowingly. It is wrong in both cases, although there is some difference. Those who commit an offence having heard that it is wrong to do so are committing a worse offence and they always remain engulfed in offence.

You have heard about Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. He would prepare prasad for Mahaprabhu very nicely—he would arrange all the numerous preparations nicely, place Tulasi leaves, and give Mahaprabhu a high seat. In the mood of a devotee, Mahaprabhu would say, "All right, this prasad has been offered to the Lord, then you can give Me a little bit from there." But Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not think so—he thought, "Mahaprabhu is the Lord Himself, and I have prepared this bhoga for Him. He will sit here and take it." Unable to argue with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Mahaprabhu would be forced to sit and eat. But when Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's son-in-law saw it, he started looking for holes, "My God, what kind of character sadhus have!", "What is the state of sannyasis these days?!", "Sannyasis eat so much!" and so on. When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya heard this, he was going to beat his own son-in-law with a stick! And Sathi's mother (Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's wife) said, "May my daughter become a widow! May her husband die!" This is how much they loved Mahaprabhu. In the end, as the result of his offences, that son-in-law was afflicted with cholera (he had diarrhoea). Mahaprabhu said, "He has done something wrong, but he did not know any better. He did it without realising it was wrong." So, one day, He came to that man and put His hand on his chest, saying, "You are a brahman, your heart must be always pure, but why do you have all this jealousy in your heart?" Mahaprabhu explained everything to him, and when Mahaprabhu put His hand on his chest, the man was healed. Getting absolved from a great offence, he became a great devotee.

Therefore, we must always remember about offences to Vaishnavs, holy places, service and the Holy Name.

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Length: 38 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Bhajana-Siddhi
2) Ignorance Is No Excuse
3) Where There Is No Will There Is No Way
4) Mind Over Matter
5) Choice Is Yours
6) Load of Luggage
7) Caught!
8) Internal Poison